Consul General of India Visits UCF

Dr. Swati Vijay Kulkarni, the new consul general of India based in the Atlanta Consulate, visited the University of Central Florida on September 11 for an introduction to campus leadership and faculty members.

Kulkarni also met with several Indian students studying and conducting research at UCF who shared their experiences with student life.

“We are delighted to meet the consul general and to explore opportunities for UCF students and faculty to strengthen partnerships in India,” said Dean Michael Johnson, interim director of UCF’s India Center.

Kulkarni is the first female diplomat posted to Atlanta, which was established in 2012, and oversees a population of nearly 300,000 Indian citizens in six U.S. states. As a career diplomat with bachelor’s degrees in both medicine and surgery from the Government Medical College in Nagpur, India, she joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1995. Kulkarni has also served in roles such as Consul General in CGI Cape Town, South Africa; Deputy Head of Mission in Muscat, Oman; First Secretary in High Commission of India, London, UK; Under Secretary overseeing Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Slovenia, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Holy See, Malta, Portugal, Ireland and Spain; and First Secretary in the High Commission of India, Port Louis and Mauritius.

Dr. Swati Vijay Kulkarni (far middle) at the UCF Global event.

“It is a great honor for UCF to be selected as one of the first places for the consul general to visit,” said Dr. Kerstin Hamann, Pegasus Professor and chair of the UCF Political Science Department. “We hope that UCF, and in particular the India Center, will be able to cement the partnership with the consul general and to identify opportunities that are beneficial to the Indian community as well as UCF.”

Kulkarni was accompanied by Mr. Prasad Vanpal, commercial officer and consulate general of India, Atlanta, and Mr. Kannan Srinivasan chief financial officer of Global kTech and former president of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

Kulkarni is planning on returning to UCF for a longer visit in the future.